New Madrid Amendments Come into Effect

January 07, 2015 by David Payne in 201501

World Intellectual Property Review reports that the latest amendments to the Madrid System entered into force on January 1 of this year. The new changes to the Common Regulations, which govern the implementation of the Madrid System, were approved by the Madrid Union Assembly in Geneva in September 2014, and will govern the operations of the International Bureau of the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO). The amendments principally cover application processes and international registrations, and also include updates to the Nice Classification (discussed in an earlier post here). More details about the specific changes are discussed in the full article here, and in the December 2014 version of WIPO’s Madrid Highlights here.

By Yann (Own work) [GFDL (http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/fdl.html), CC-BY-SA-3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/) or CC BY-SA 2.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0)], via Wikimedia Commons.

Reposted from World Intellectual Property Review.

Today in Copyright History: 1/6

January 06, 2015 by David Payne in 201501

On January 6, 1897, the U.S. Copyright Amendment Act of 1897 created a public performance right for musical compositions to protect against unauthorized public performances.

Reposted from the History of Copyright Timeline at the U.S. Copyright Office.

A Google of Copyright Takedown Notices

January 05, 2015 by David Payne in 201501

Okay, not quite a google, but according to an article today at TorrentFreak, a still quite respectable 345,169,134 takedown notices were submitted by copyright holders in 2014. The takedown notices take advantage of a provision in the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) that allows copyright owners or their representatives (e.g., the MPAA or the RIAA) to report sites that contain allegedly infringing content to search engine providers like Google. As the article notes, “[t]hese requests have increased dramatically over the years. In 2008, [Google] received only a few dozen takedown notices during the entire year, but today it processes more than a million reported ‘pirate’ links per day.” The goal of copyright holders is to stop the alleged infringement and steer “prospective customers away from pirate sites.” Unfortunately for the copyright holders, the sheer number of DMCA takedown notices is indicative of the scale of the infringing online activity taking place every day. Read the full article here.

By Coolcaesar (Googleplexwelcomesign.jpg) [GFDL (www.gnu.org/copyleft/fdl.html) or CC-BY-SA-3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/)], via Wikimedia Commons.

Reposted from TorrentFreak.

New Commissioner for Trademarks at USPTO

January 02, 2015 by David Payne in 201501

On January 1, 2015, the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) had a changing of the guard when Mary Boney Denison assumed the position of Commissioner for Trademarks. Per the USPTO, “[t]he Commissioner for Trademarks oversees all aspects of the USPTO’s trademarks organization, including policy, operations, and budget relating to trademark examination, registration, and maintenance.” Denison, who previously served as Deputy Commissioner for Trademark Operations, was appointed last month to the Commissioner’s post by U.S. Secretary of Commerce Penny Pritzker. Denison succeeds outgoing Commissioner Deborah Cohn, who has held the position since 2010. Read the USPTO press release here, and Denison's biography here.

Reposted from the USPTO.

2015 Version of Nice Classification Goes into Effect

January 02, 2015 by David Payne in 201501

January 1, 2015 saw the entry into force of the 2015 Version of the Nice Classification, Tenth Edition. Officially called the International Classification of Goods and Services for the Purposes of the Registration of Marks, the Nice Classification is the product of a multilateral agreement in 1957 to establish, as its title suggests, an international, standardized system of classifying goods and services for trademark registration purposes. There are currently eighty-four countries, including the United States, that are bound by the Nice Agreement, as well as a number of other countries that are not contracting parties but have adopted the Nice Classification. The Nice Classification is published by the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) here, and is accessible for public searching here. In addition, the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) has posted an overview of the 2015 Version of the Nice Classification here, as well as a summary of “noteworthy changes” in the 2015 Version here.

I, Yann [GFDL (http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/fdl.html), CC-BY-SA-3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/) or CC BY-SA 2.5-2.0-1.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.5-2.0-1.0)], via Wikimedia Commons.

Reposted from the USPTO and WIPO.

Happy 2015!

January 01, 2015 by David Payne in 201501

On behalf of David Payne and Trademarkwise®, best wishes for the new year! May 2015 bring you health, happiness, prosperity, and comprehensive protection for your trademark, copyright, and intellectual property matters on a budget-friendly, flat fee basis. And such.

By Roula30 (Own work) [CC BY-SA 3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0)], via Wikimedia Commons.

Today in Copyright History: 1/1

January 01, 2015 by David Payne in 201501

On January 1, 1953, recording and performing rights were extended to nondramatic literary works.

Twenty-five years later, on January 1, 1978, the principal provisions of the 1976 Copyright Act, the fourth general revision of U.S. copyright law, took effect.

By Carol M. Highsmith (Own work) [CC BY-SA 3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0)], via Wikimedia Commons.

Reposted from the History of Copyright Timeline at the U.S. Copyright Office.